Unchained Hearts
by bonnyblonde
Summary: Carol was instrumental in saving her friends at Terminus, but is it enough to gain her a place back with the group again? Unresolved hostility between Carol and Rick, and even deeper unresolved feelings between Carol and Daryl need to be explored. Complete. If you aren't all about Caryl, please don't read. Smut ensues, you have been warned.


Thanks to Jen, Deana and other Caryl folk who are an endless source of fantastic prompts! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"Carol – can we talk?"

Rick limped over to where Carol was sitting against the hard wall with her head tipped back. She was tired, she was hurting, and the last thing she needed after orchestrating what amounted to a slaughter at Terminus was a heart-to-heart with the man who'd forced her to leave the prison. Leave her family. Leave _Daryl_. Rick, who for all intents and purposes believed he was imposing a death sentence on her for doing what she had to do in order to save the people she cared for more than anything else in the world.

More fool him, she thought to herself as she glanced up at his battered face. She had reserves of strength he could only dream of possessing. Although right now, she didn't feel like she had any left at all.

"It's not the time, Rick. Not now," she warned him wearily. "After everything that just went down, I honestly don't have the energy to deal with you."

He shook his head and stopped. "This isn't about confrontation. It's about…it's about me saying thank you. For saving my little girl, for bringing her back to me. When Carl and I saw that car seat in the prison yard…"

Carol ran her fingers back through her hair and interjected before he could start down the road of justifying why he hadn't even looked for Judith after the attack. "I didn't do it for you; I did it for her. And I wasn't alone, Tyreese kept her safe after the Governor destroyed the place. Well, him and …"

She suddenly couldn't talk past the painful lump in her throat. Discussing what had happened to Mika, what Carol had been forced to do to Lizzie…it was still far too fresh, too raw. And quite frankly, none of Rick's business. He might think he was still the leader but he was the last person she'd follow after, confide in or trust again.

Rick crouched before her, his eyes seeming even bluer than usual in contrast to his blood-spattered face. "I know about the girls; Tyreese told me about Lizzie and Mika. You did what you had to do to protect my daughter, to make it back to us alive and healthy."

She huffed in amusement, wondering if Rick was expecting her to spout her undying gratitude for granting her his magnanimous understanding. "It wasn't the first time I had to make a tough decision in order to save lives," she said, fixing him with a pointed look.

He dropped his eyes to his hands. "Yeah, I know you believe that. Ty also told me that you confessed to him about Karen and David, and that he forgave you. I wanted to tell you that if he's willing to let it go, then…well, I can forgive you, too."

Carol's jaw dropped open in disbelief, and a swirling surge of rage followed quickly behind. Before she even thought about what she was doing, she wound up and slugged Rick in the jaw with what little strength she had left in her battered body.

Rick flew back, hitting his shoulder hard on the cement floor as he tried unsuccessfully to roll with the punch. As Carol scrambled to her feet and cradled her bruised hand against her chest, she saw with no small amount of satisfaction that bright red blood was trickling from the corner of Rick's mouth.

"You _forgive me?_ You…forgive…_ME_?!" She was practically vibrating, both from overwhelming anger and the now searing pain spreading through her fingers. Her eyes burned but she wouldn't allow herself to cry. She'd never shed another tear in his presence…never allow him to have any kind of power over her again. "I did what I did out of _love_! People were dying – OUR people. Our family! I couldn't sit by and let that happen when it was in my power to stop it. And it's cost me – you have no idea how much. I pay the price every day…I pay it every night when I close my eyes and see their faces in my nightmares! But you know what? I know it was what had to be done for the greater good. Can you say the same thing about killing Shane? Who was _that_ for, Rick? You might want to turn some of that high-powered judgment on yourself for a change. I don't need your forgiveness – it was never yours to give! I've earned my place, and I will choose whether I stay or go…not YOU!"

Rick stared up at her in stunned silence, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Before he could respond to her tirade, though, they both heard footsteps coming from the corridor and then Daryl stepped into the room. "What the fuck…?" Daryl said, squinting in confusion at the scene before him.

Shaking his head and nursing his jaw, Rick picked himself up off the floor and staggered a few unsteady steps towards the other man. "It's nothin'."

For some reason, having him shrug off what had just passed between them raised Carol's ire again. "The hell it isn't!" she snarled, retrieving her pistol from where she'd left it beside the wall and tucking it into her waistband. She stormed towards the door, and Daryl tried to snag her by her elbow as she passed him.

"Carol, wait…"

"Don't you touch me!" she growled at Daryl, her teeth clenched. She roughly yanked her arm away but then felt all her anger drain away at the hurt she saw on his face.

"M'sorry," he muttered, shuffling back a few steps and looking down at his boots. The guilt she felt for taking things out on him just compounded her foul mood, but she didn't have it in her to apologize. With one last blistering glare at Rick Grimes, Carol stalked out of the room and down the hallway.

"What'd you say to her?!" she heard Daryl demand gruffly, but she didn't wait around to listen to Rick's explanation. She needed to treat her throbbing hand, get some decent sleep and down a double shot of whiskey, not necessarily in that order.

* * *

In the end, the only place that Carol could find any peace at all was the one place she was sure no one would think to look for her. Bright sunlight seeped in between the cracks in the door of the box car, giving her enough light to see but unfortunately also enough to keep her from falling asleep. She draped her arm over her face and tried to relax on her thin bed of blankets, but her hand hurt too much to ignore. If only she'd been successful in tracking down some booze, it might have numbed the pain enough that she could have succumbed to her unspeakable exhaustion.

Just as the heat finally got to her and she thought she might be able to doze off, the heavy gate to the boxcar rolled open and she jumped up, instinctively grabbing her gun from the floor beside her and levelling it at the doorway. Her heart thudded like a hammer against her ribs until her eyes adjusted and she saw it was Daryl peering in, his hands raised in an attempt to reassure her.

"Maybe you should have knocked first," Carol said, heaving a shaky sigh of relief and carefully lowering herself back to the floor again. She eased the gun out of her wounded hand and protectively tucked her arm against her midriff. "Good way to get your head shot off, sneaking up on people like that."

"Why're you hidin' away in here anyhow?" he asked, looking around the filthy, stifling boxcar with disgust. "Thought after comin' all that way, you'd want to be back with everyone again. You just saved our lives, for fuck's sake."

"I didn't…" Carol felt the increasingly familiar sorrow take root, and wished for about the third time that day she could have Judith with her again and find some comfort by holding the baby close. "I don't know what to expect from them anymore."

It was probably the most terrifying thing she'd faced, and considering the horrors they lived through every day, that was saying something. Because if the people she loved all sided with Rick, if they felt that she had betrayed the group by her actions back at the prison, being alone for the rest of her life was a very real possibility.

Daryl sank to his knees in front of her. "They're glad you're safe…they're grateful for everythin' you done to rescue us. Nobody here hates you, Carol. We're the same as we ever were."

"The same," she echoed, and then hung her head. "Except _I'm_ not, Daryl. I'm not the same. Not anymore."

Daryl regarded her silently for a few moments and Carol felt the intensity of his stare like a caress. "You are for me," he finally murmured shyly. "The same, I mean. Ain't nothin' changed between you an' me, 'cept for I missed you like crazy."

"And what I did back at the prison? That doesn't faze you?" she challenged, wishing for the ten-thousandth time that the way she felt about Daryl was reciprocated with more than devoted friendship. Still, that was nothing to take lightly, especially not given her current predicament. That he would have anything to do with her at all was a miracle, especially when one considered his closeness to their inconstant leader.

"Shocked the fuck outta me, same as it did everyone," he admitted, shifting position until he was sitting cross-legged with his back pressed to the wall of the train car. "If you'da come to me and told me what was goin' on, mebbe we coulda come up with somethin' together. Thought after all this time, you'd know you coud trust me. But in the end, I get it…why you did what you did. And if Ty an' you have already made your peace with it, then I don't see where you got anythin' left to prove to anyone else."

Carol shrugged, afraid to feel even slightly optimistic. "I think if Rick had his way, I'd be headed down the tracks on my own tomorrow morning."

"Don't give a shit what Rick wants," Daryl replied with something resembling a growl. "What he already did to you is damned near unforgivable. You gotta know it wouldn't have gone down like that if I'd been there."

"Yeah? What would you have done?" she asked tremulously. She loved Daryl, loved him with every part of her being. In the end, she needed to know what would have happened had he been there. Would he have taken her side against Rick, did he truly care enough about her to risk fracturing that tight bond?

"The group woulda talked it out together, all of us. Cooler heads and all that, y'know? Discussed the facts, let you tell your side of things. And if Rick an' the rest still decided that it was best you leave – well, then we woulda left."

Try as she could to hold them back, tears welled up and her vision swam. "_We_?" she rasped, her throat tightening. "You would have come with me, just walked away and left everyone else behind? Why?"

Daryl turned to her with an expression of wounded surprise. "You don't _know_? Christ, Carol! That you even gotta ask, after all this time…"

"Is it because we're friends?" she ventured quietly, forcing herself to meet his penetrating gaze despite her fear at what she might see there. He couldn't mean what she thought he meant…could he?

"NO! I mean, yeah, that too. But…" He broke eye contact and bowed his head slightly, his features once again hidden behind his long dark hair. "But it's _more_ than that. Isn't it?"

When she heard the vulnerability in his earnest question, her heart jumped against her ribs like it was trying to break free. Hesitating for only a second or two, Carol edged closer and cupped Daryl's chin in her hand. "Do you mean, more…like this?" she whispered, leaning in close enough that she could feel his breath ghosting soft and warm over her face. She paused, waiting to see if she'd read him wrong, giving him a chance to end things before they began. When he didn't pull away, she threw caution to the wind and pressed her mouth to his, kissing him with incredibly heartfelt tenderness.

The contact was pure decadence, the luscious slow slide of velvet against velvet with all the richness of chocolate and red wine. Daryl's lips parted when he made a sound that was half gasp and half whimper, and Carol delicately flicked the tip of her tongue against his, shivering at the incredible intimacy of the touch.

It was if some heavy weight had been lifted from her chest, so great was Carol's physical reawakening. His taste and scent overwhelmed her senses, a static charge that tripped along her nerves and ignited bursts of flame that raced through her veins. She dared to take the kiss deeper, stroking the smooth, moist flesh inside his mouth and coaxing a low, needful moan from him.

The exquisite sensation of his lips moving gently against hers had robbed her of the last of her breath, and so she was forced to break the kiss in order to draw in much-needed air. Raising her head slightly, Carol licked his delectable essence from her lips and watched intently as Daryl's eyelids fluttered open again. "Is that what you meant by 'more'?" she said, fingering the soft strands of hair that had caught on the ridge of his cheekbone and smiling.

His answer came not through words but by way of a change in his expression, from one of dazed wonder to heated desire. Without warning, he grasped her face in both of his hands and kissed her back, long and sweet and so hot that she felt as though she might fly apart from the sheer ecstasy of it. Carol opened her mouth further, encouraging him to take as much of her as he wanted, giving in to his surprising but welcome assertiveness. She laid her hands against his chest and revelled in the whipcord heat of his blood pulsing beneath her palms.

Without warning, Daryl's body lunged over hers and she suddenly found herself sprawled on the floor, unable to move beneath the wall of hard, lean muscle pressing down upon her. Startled, Carol blinked up at him and her breath caught in her throat. What she realized in that instant was that the Daryl she thought she knew – the shy, complex, tender guy who'd submitted so readily to her dainty kiss – was gone. The man hovering above her had eyes that glinted with predatory intent and teeth bared as though he was set on devouring her whole. By making the first move and confirming in his mind that what they shared was indeed _more_, Carol had set him free and in the process, clearly started something that it seemed Daryl had every intention of finishing.

Had it been anyone else, she might have been afraid of his unexpected aggression. She hardly had a moment to dwell on it, though, before he took possession of her mouth again, rough and demanding. He swallowed every helpless sound she made and ground himself against her, the stiff ridge of his sex pressing enticingly against her mound even through their clothes. Carol clutched at his biceps, clinging to him through the onslaught of what felt like a spiralling, erotic maelstrom.

Without any pretence or preamble, he edged his hand down between them and she felt a tugging at her hips. He yanked open the button on her pants and whipped down the zipper. Suddenly rearing back on his heels, he dragged her khakis and underwear down her legs, pulling them off along with her boots. As the cooler air hit the warm, wet flesh between her thighs, it struck Carol that she was half naked and in full sight of anyone passing by the wide-open boxcar door.

"Daryl," she whispered anxiously, instinctively covering herself, "someone might see!"

With an exasperated, impatient growl, he crossed the short distance to the door and taking hold of the metallic handle, slammed the gate shut with enough force that the entire car shook. She lay trembling in exquisite expectation, hearing the jangle of his belt buckle and then the sound of heavy denim hitting the wooden floor. "I'm gonna take what I want, Carol," he said, his voice low and hoarse with promise as he shed the rest of his clothes. He approached her like he was stalking prey, a dark shadow looming above her through the dimness of their surroundings. "Spent 'nuff time pussying around with you. That shit's done."

"You don't have to take it; I'll give everything to you," she replied shakily, jumping slightly as his hands curled around her ankles and he forced her to part her legs so he could kneel between them.

Hot breath bathed her quivering inner thigh, and Carol shivered when Daryl's hair brushed over the soft, sensitive skin. His tongue traced a scorching trail ever closer to her throbbing centre and he swept his palms upward, spreading her wider as he went.

She flushed from head to toe when she heard him inhale the scent of her arousal deep into his lungs. "Fuck, that's good," he groaned, slipping his hands beneath her thighs and tilting her hips for better access. "You smell like peach blossoms and honey."

The instant he covered her core with his mouth, enveloping her in sweltering, moist heat, Carol came hard. Her back arched up and she grabbed hold of his hair, clutching him tightly and thrusting her hips against him as she rode out her climax. Stroking her folds and probing her clit with his tongue, Daryl kept the pleasure rolling through her, and when he slid one long finger inside of her, another orgasm wracked her body and had her crying out in mindless bliss.

He gave her a few minutes to recover and then with one last, long lick, he kissed his way up her navel, shoving the fabric of her blouse out of the way as he went. Through the fog of passion, it occurred to her that she was likely causing him pain, the way she had tufts of his hair bunched in her fists, and she started to relax her grip. "Nah, don't do that," he purred as he pushed her bra up over her breasts and kissed each creamy mound. "You're gonna have to hold on tight, 'cuz I ain't done with you yet. B'sides, I like to have my hair pulled – hurts in a good way, y'know?"

Before Carol had the chance to contemplate the dizzying possibilities of that particular predilection, Daryl had sucked one of her nipples into his mouth and was tonguing it into a stiff, aching bud. "You want 'more,' babe?" he teased, his breath on her damp skin making her writhe with delight. He nibbled playfully at her other nipple and her womb clenched hard, her body desperate to take him in.

She rolled her hips against him in invitation, wanting nothing more than to feel him moving inside of her. "More…yes," she groaned, tugging his face away from her chest so she could kiss him again. She wrapped her legs around his hips and drew him close so she could better feel the long, heavy weight of his erection twitching against her pelvis.

He went still for a moment, his body trembling as he fought for restraint. "I ain't…ain't got nothin' for protection…"

Carol reached down between their bodies and wrapped her fingers around his straining cock, a sharp little breath escaping her lips when she realized her fingers couldn't quite encircle his girth. "It's not an issue for me anymore," she murmured against his cheek as she stroked him from thick root to swollen head.

Thoughts of her old life intruded. A difficult birth followed by life-threatening complications meant that Sophia had been destined to be Carol's only child. At the time, it had seemed a strange blessing of sorts – the violence had started when Ed had found out she was pregnant, and it likely would have grown worse had she conceived again.

Carol forced back the memories. That was a lifetime ago, another world. Nothing matter more at the moment than the fact that she had found the man she loved, that they were together in every way that mattered, and that he had finally claimed her, body and soul. There was nothing and no one in all the world except them right now.

Daryl slipped his arm beneath her shoulders and brought her face close to his, ravaging her lips again as he thrust against her palm. She lost herself in pure sensation once more, stealing traces of her own flavour as their tongues duelled sensually. Jacking her hips up, she guided him to her opening and braced herself. He was so big and it had been so long for her...

He surged forward, sheathing himself inside of her all at once. The stinging stretch as her body adjusted to his intrusion only heightened her shocking pleasure, and the feeling of unbelievable fullness took her breath away. He moaned into her mouth as he began to move, caressing her from within and transporting her to a place where there was no thought, only indescribable rapture.

She could feel every inch of him as he began to pump harder, and her channel contracted around him with each stroke as though her body was trying to draw him even further in. She smoothed her way down the sway of his back and sank her fingernails into the firm, flexing muscles of his ass, drawing a hiss of ecstasy from Daryl's lips as she shamelessly scored his flesh.

His thrusts grew wilder and uncontrolled, and Carol gave up trying to meet each jarring slam of his hips against hers, surrendering completely to her lover. Daryl was panting hard now and she responded with small, keening sobs that slipped her lips before she could think to stop them. Truth was, she was beyond caring whether or not someone heard. There was no time for propriety, no need for modesty, not anymore.

For the briefest of moments, Carol teetered on the edge of climax and she fought to prolong the experience, knowing that as amazing as the finish would be, she never wanted it to end. Daryl was complicit in the conspiracy to rob her of control, however, and when he subtly adjusted the angle of penetration, he hit a spot that had her body convulsing around his with such force that she was certain that her heart had stopped entirely. A beat or two later, Daryl's face contorted as she squeezed him in a vice-like grip, gritting his teeth as his own orgasm seemed to slam into him from behind. He shouted out loudly as he came, and she could feel the heat of his seed spurting deep inside her in scorching waves.

She lay beneath him trying to catch her breath, trembling in the physical and emotional aftermath of their joint conquest. Daryl remained embedded between her legs, still hot and rigid despite having found his release. After a time, he raised himself on one elbow and leisurely divested her of both her blouse and her bra before laying his head against her bared breasts again.

"I figured it was 'more' all along," he murmured, licking away the droplets of sweat from her slick chest.

Carol laughed softly and ran her fingers over his back, loving that he was staying cradled between her legs. She needed this closeness now, this connection. "I'll take all the 'more' you're willing to give me. That was…yeah. Amazing."

A comfortable silence descended between them, and they listened to the distant sounds of insects and muted voices coming from back by the buildings. Between the mid-day sun pouring down on the boxcar and Daryl's body nestled against hers, she felt like she was wrapped in a cocoon – safe, isolated and most importantly, changed.

~fin~


End file.
